Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Jul 22, 2005 22:17:10 GMT -5
_____________________________
Mobile Surgical Hospitals
Type/Model: M.A.S.H. Truck
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3025
Config: Wheeled Vehicle
Rules: Level 1, Standard design
Mass: 20 tons
Power Plant: 80 Hermes Fusion
Cruise Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Armor Type: StarSlab /Sheet Standard
Armament:
2 ChisComp 32 Small Lasers
Manufacturer: Talon Vehicles
Location: Talon
Communications System: Achernar Electronics HICK-4
Medical Equipment Manufacturer: Mercy Industries of Talon
Targeting & Tracking System: (Unknown)
Overview:
Literally hospitals on wheels, the large, sophisticated MASH trucks supply wounded MechWarriors with the finest possible medical care.
Every well-equipped regiment is assigned at least one Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The vehicle stations itself as close as possible to the action, perhaps in an open field near several roads. The MASH then unfolds itself and powers up its medical equipment. In the meantime, army engineers devise a landing pad to handle the air vehicles that will ferry the wounded from the front line to the rear, from which they can be evacuated offworld if necessary. Though only lightly armed and armored, the MASH is rarely attacked because it provides medical services to the wounded of both sides.
Capabilities:
The interior of the MASH is a high-tech affair. Entering through one set of wide doors, the patient is taken to a table to be prepared for surgery. In the meantime, one of the five team doctors is at a terminal accessing the results of medical tests on the patient. From the results, the MASH's computer suggests a plan of action to the surgeon.
Having been prepped, the patient is brought to the surgeon and placed on the automated table, whose robot arms administer anesthesia. From there, the surgeon takes over. When he wants a surgical instrument such as a laser scalpel, the table automatically dispenses it via a group of robot hands stationed over the tray of sterile equipment.
Depending on the situation, either the triage officer or the computer compiles continuous reports on the patient's condition, which the surgeon receives simultaneously through a small earphone. When he needs to consult a test result or an X-ray, it immediately appears on a nearby data screen. In an emergency, such as sudden heart failure or a seizure, the surgeon can take control of one of the automated table's many mechanical hands. The machine understands a wide variety of surgical maneuvers and can greatly aid the beleaguered surgeon.
If the patient is slipping away too fast, the surgeon can initiate the emergency freeze procedure. A large, clear cover descends onto the table, turning it into a large, air-tight tube containing the patient. Once in place, the tube's temperature is lowered by flooding the interior with a clear, oxygen-rich liquid. The surgeon then places his hands through sleeves leading into the air-tight area and continues operating, with the table providing instruments from underneath its cover.
Once the operation is complete, the surgeon enters data into the computer on post-op care, medication needed, and any other notes. This information is available to the nurses in the post-op ward, who will add their own observations to the patient's record.
If a sudden change in the fortunes of war forces the MASH to move suddenly, it can disassemble its temporary structures and send patients on in ambulances, all in less than four hours. Drugs and medical equipment are loaded back onto the MASH, with supply trucks carting away the remaining non-medical supplies.
As the surgery is prepared to move, all but one of the five operating theaters is stripped down and stowed. The truck's right wall is lifted back up, then reattached to the truck so that the rear of the MASH can hold six of the most seriously injured patients. Even moving at high speeds, some surgery can be performed in the one operating theater.
The MASH is lightly armed, more to discourage thieves than to inflict major damage. Mercenaries are particularly anxious to acquire a MASH, which they may try to steal by killing the driver or by blockading the road on which it is traveling. This has happened only rarely, and so some MASH doctors have removed the truck's weapons on ethical grounds. As smoke and barrages of fire often obscures the large red cross painted on the vehicle's sensitive equipment, the sides of the truck are fairly well-armored.
Deployment
The first MASH units appeared during the Korean War in Earth's ancient history. By the end of the period known as the Exodus, MASH units had to be assembled by fleets of trucks and engineers, and it took days to erect or remove them. Because of that time factor, many MASH units were captured, a very costly loss.
The idea of installing certain diagnostic equipment on trucks and vans to allow for quick retreats was gradually put into practice. First came a portable power supply, then the diagnostic equipment, then whole trucks employed as mobile wards. The first mobile surgery theater was employed in the opening battles of the Age of War, evolving quickly into the MASH unit known today.
The model MIT23 M.A.S.H. unit has become the archetypical Mobile Surgical Hospital used across the Inner Sphere today. This model first emerged from ComStar factories before the Jihad, to replace older designs used by the Star League Defense Force. With expanded facilities, capable of rendering medical service to a full infantry squad at one time, this vehicle still maintains enough mobility to get close to a battlefield, perform critical operations, and get back out again in one piece. Many of these MASH trucks were enhanced later by Clan medical technology, capable of getting
soldiers back into fighting shape even faster, or well enough for a final desperate push against enemy lines.
TRO:
Type/Model: M.A.S.H. Truck
Mass: 20 tons
Equipment: Items Mass
Internal Structure: 10 pts Standard 0 2.00
Engine: 80 Fusion 0 2.50
Shielding & Trans Equip: 0 1.50
Cruise MP: 5
Flank MP: 8
Heat Sinks: 10 Single 0 .00
Cockpit & Controls: 0 1.00
Crew: 2 Members 0 .00
Turret Equipment: 0 .50
Armor Factor: 64 pts Standard 0 4.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front: 2 12
Left / Right Sides: 2 16/16
Rear: 2 10
Turret: 2 10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons & Equipment: Loc Heat Ammo Items Mass
2 Small Lasers Turret 2 2 1.00
1 MASH Unit Theater Rear 0 1 1.00
Hospital Equipment Body 0 1 4.00
TOTALS: 2 4 20.00
Items & Tons Left: 5 .00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 260,333 C-Bills
Battle Value: 87
Cost per BV: 2,992.34
Weapon Value: 14 / 14 (Ratio = .16 / .16)
Damage Factors: SRDmg = 2; MRDmg = 0; LRDmg = 0
BattleForce2: MP: 5, Armor/Structure: 0 / 2
Damage PB/M/L: 1/-/-, Overheat: 0
Class: GL, Point Value: 1